Fantastic album.
5
By Halloween_Jack
Of his "Machine" period, this is definitely the best. All he learned from "Replicas" and "Pleasure Principle" crystallized here. It's a beautiful, slick, moody, textured, and futuristic set of songs. You don't even have to play it loud. It's probably best at mid-volume. Try this running order: 1, 4, 8, 3, 2, 14, 5, 10, 9, 7, 6, 11, 13, 12, 16. That's the way he performed it live for the anniversary tour.
1980 was a great year.
4
By Marlboro Guy
The original version of this album released in 1980 did not contain the 2 best songs, the UK hit singles :We Are Glass and I Die: You Die. Thanfully, it is included here. A huge hit upon it's original release in the UK. Failed to make much of an ompression in the US. A n even better overall effort than it's hugely successful predecesor.
Greatest Ever
5
By telekonuman
This is Gary Numan's peak, his greatest album, and my favorite album of all time. Every one of his Beggars Banquet albums is essential, but this is his finest moment. The extra tracks and the added singles only add to the experience.
An amazing album
5
By archesq
This is one of the greatest albums released in the 1980s, pure and simple. It is a master class in the dark edge of new wave. Through the 80s, new wave got a bit of a bad rap, with silly groups such as Flock of Seagulls and Duran Duran suggesting that maybe it was all about make-up and synthesizers. But the good stuff was much darker, more foreign, distant, and groundbreaking.
And Gary Numan's Telekon, released in 1980, epitomizes that darker edge. Check out This Wreckage, Remind Me to Smile, I Dream of Wires, We Are Glass and the excellent I Die: You Die. Now just imagine how refreshing this stuff sounded after a decade of the Bee Gees, KC and the Sunshine Band, and Donna Summer.
severely good
5
By roxyzombie
Numan is one of the most underrated artists from this era in music, and Telekon is one of his masterpieces. Keeps up the same themes and robotic persona, but this one comes across with a lot more emotion than the first three albums, and some cracks are beginning to show. Note that Robert Palmer covered "I Dream of Wires" on his New Wavish "Clues" album.
The essential quartet
4
By Thinking_Fish
Tubeway army, Pleasure Principle, Replicas and Telekon, for me the core of Numan's early years. After Telekon he plunged into an ill-fitting funk phase with 'Dance' and got jiggy until successfully returning to the dark guitar theme years later.
Telekon hold's it's own for the most part, more melancholy than previous offerings (if that were possible) with moments so quiet and reflective that the cavenous air between the notes become broody and sombre.
As a side note, my mother sticthed me and my brother a T-shirt to look exactly like the album cover with red stripes which i wore to his 1981 farewell tour. Thanks mum.
